The invention of the optical fiber, and subsequent developments which resulted in economical processes for manufacturing such fiber, has given birth to the field of optical communications. Currently, this field is essentially limited to transmission of information in optical form. However, the processing of information still proceeds by way of electrical devices and methods. Consequently, information signals must be processed in electrical form, transformed to optical form for transmission, and then retransformed to electrical form for further processing after the optical signals are received. Clearly, the economics of optical communications will drive the industry to develop optical devices capable of processing information in optical form. Such devices would include, for example, lasers, amplifiers, detectors, couplers, modulators, and regenerators, all coupled by appropriate optical waveguides. Such devices can be fabricated today, however, generally, they can only be manufactured in discreet form, and in order to be economically viable for optical communications systems, such devices would have to be manufactured in integrated form. However, to date, suggested processing techniques for fabricating PICs are not yet sufficiently effective or flexible to be economically viable for use in commercial optical communications.